While in South Korea on an official visit, French President Emmanuel Macron, along with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, announced that the two countries will co-chair a ground-breaking international summit dedicated to movies, dramas and video games.
The event, dubbed the Film & Video Summit, will bring together approximately 100 industry leaders from around the world, including CEOs of major global companies, filmmakers, talent, policy makers, art world figures, and film education advocates.
The summit, first reported by AFP, will be held on September 7 at the Maag Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Jae-Myung also plans to make a state visit to France on the occasion.
The agenda will tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing the sector, from the future of theatrical exhibition and the convergence of television, streaming and gaming, to preserving our cinematic heritage, sustainable production and artificial intelligence.
For Gaëtan Bruel, who heads France’s powerful National Cinema Commission (CNC), the stakes couldn’t be higher. “We are living through a moment as decisive as the invention of cinema by the Lumière brothers 130 years ago,” Bruel argues, pointing out that “the challenges are immense, but nothing is written in advance. If we actively come together, this moment of crisis can become a moment of reinvention.”
“In its early days, cinema was invented by creators and entrepreneurs. Today it has taken on new dimensions. Our sector needs global governance to match the challenges ahead,” he said.
“New alliances must be forged. Many players from film and video games, broadcasters and streamers, Europe and Asia, and of course the United States, are ready to join this reinvention,” Brüel said.
France and South Korea have a lot in common culturally. Both have strong film histories, vibrant local industries, and share similar views on the importance of original authorship.
In the realm of television, South Korea has enjoyed similar success, with a number of shows becoming global megahits on the streamer, most notably Netflix’s “Squid Game,” produced by Hwang Dong-hyuk.
In fact, last month, South Korea was celebrated as an honorary country at the Series Mania Festival held in northern France, coinciding with the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and South Korea.
Series Mania reported that South Korea’s content market will reach $43.1 billion in 2024, an increase of 5.7% from $40.8 billion in 2023, maintaining its position as the world’s 8th largest content market.
At the same time, both France and South Korea are experiencing tough theater markets in the wake of the pandemic. South Korea, once the world’s fifth-largest film territory, saw its box office revenue increase by more than half between 2019 and 2024.
Still, like France, South Korea has produced many notable writers, including Bong Joon-ho, who made history with the dark comedy “Parasite,” which won the Palme d’Or in 2020, winning Best Picture in addition to Best Director, Best International Film, and Best Original Screenplay.
This year, another Korean master, Park Chan-wook, will head the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Cinema & Cinema Summit will follow another initiative driven by Macron’s impulses. France previously hosted an international AI summit in 2025 that brought together heads of state, government, policy makers, industry leaders, researchers and innovators.
